Activities for two year olds

20+ Best Learning Activities for 2-Year-Olds That They'll Love

We know that parenting a toddler can be both rewarding and challenging, so we’ve put together a list of activities to help your little one learn and grow while having lots of fun. Welcome to our guide of 20+ fun and learning activities for 2 year olds!

From simple crafts and games that help with fine motor skills to more active pursuits that will get your toddler moving, there’s something here for everyone. And the best part is that most of these activities can be done using things you already have around the house, so there is no need to go out and buy anything special.

We hope you enjoy trying out these activities with your toddler and that they help make your days a little bit brighter.

What you’ll need: Construction paper in different colors, crayons, markers, or paint

What to do: Cut out different shapes from each color of construction paper. Talk about the different colors with your toddler as they sort the shapes. You can also have them trace the shapes with crayons, markers, or paint.

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What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting color recognition and fine motor skills. Toddlers also learn about shapes as they play.

Related Reading: Free & Fun Colouring Pages for Kids to Foster Creative Development

What you’ll need: Construction paper, scissors, crayons, markers, or paint

What to do: Cut out different letters from construction paper. Talk about the different letters with your toddler as they match them up. You can also have them trace the letters with crayons, markers, or paint.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting letter recognition and fine motor skills. Learning letters at an early age can also help your toddler with reading and writing later on.

What you’ll need: Construction paper, scissors, crayons, markers, or paint

What to do: Cut out different patterns from construction paper. Talk about the different patterns with your toddler as they match them up. You can also have them trace the patterns with crayons, markers, or paint.

Some patterns that toddlers can work with include stripes, polka dots, and zigzags.

What kids will learn: This activity promotes pattern recognition and fine motor skills. It also helps toddlers develop their problem-solving skills.

What you’ll need: A computer with internet access

What to do: Many great math and reading games for toddlers are available online. Spend some time playing these games with your toddler to help them learn new skills. Ensure that children aren’t spending too much time looking at screens. For toddlers, 20–30 minutes is enough screen time.

What kids will learn: This activity encourages children to improve their math and reading skills. Toddlers also learn about computer use and basic game skills.

What you’ll need: A toy train set, such as the Thomas the Tank Engine Wooden Railway Starter Set.

What to do: Let your toddler help you put together a simple toy train set. They can connect the track pieces, place the trains on the tracks, and press the buttons to make them go.

What kids will learn: This activity promotes problem-solving, fine motor skills, and hand–eye coordination. Toddlers also learn about cause and effect as they play.

What you’ll need: Watercolors, paintbrushes, water, and paper.

What to do: This is a classic activity that toddlers will love! They can experiment with mixing the colors, painting different strokes, and adding water to create different effects.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting art and creativity. Toddlers also learn about colors and mixing different shades.

Related Reading: Painting Ideas Kids Can Have Fun With & Easily Pull Off

What you’ll need: Nothing!

What to do: One of the best activities for 2 year olds, this is a great way to promote language development. Talk to your toddler about anything and everything. Describe what you’re doing, such as “I’m making lunch.” or “I’m putting on my shoes. ” You can also ask them questions and encourage them to answer.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting language development. Toddlers also learn about communication and conversation.

What you’ll need: Paper, a pencil, and some crayons or markers

What to do: Help your toddler trace their body on a piece of paper. Then, they can decorate it however they like! This is a great way to encourage creativity and self-expression.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting art and creativity. Toddlers also learn about their own bodies and how to use different art supplies.

What you’ll need: Some clothes, shoes, and a mirror.

What to do: One of the most important activities for 2 year olds is to learn how to get dressed independently. You can start with simple clothing items, such as a shirt or pants. Show them how to put on clothing and then let them try it themselves. As they get better at dressing themselves, you can add more items, such as shoes, socks, and jackets.

This is a great activity to do when you are vacationing with the family as you can afford the time and patience it needs to help your kids learn how to button their shirts or tie their shoes correctly.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting fine motor skills and independence. Toddlers also learn about different types of clothing and how to put them on.

What you’ll need: A toy box or bin and some toys.

What to do: Show them how to put the toys away in the toy box or bin. As they get better at this, you can add more toys or make it a game by timing them to see how fast they can put the toys away.

What kids will learn: This is a great activity for teaching toddlers about organization and responsibility. It is also a good way to promote problem-solving skills. Toddlers thus learn about cleaning up.

What you’ll need: Some music or you can clap your hands yourself

What to do: Help your toddler clap their hands to the beat of the music. As they get better at this, you can add other body parts, such as their feet or head.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting music and rhythm skills. Toddlers also learn about following directions.

What you’ll need: Any good picture books, like The Very Hungry Caterpillar or The Cat in the Hat.

What to do: This activity is great for promoting literacy skills. Sit down with your toddler and read one of their favorite books. As they get better at this, you can start asking them questions about the story or having them point out different objects in the book.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting literacy skills. Studies show that early exposure to reading is linked with higher reading achievement later in life. Toddlers also learn about communication and conversation.

Related Reading: Funny Children’s Books to Read With Your Kids That Will Have Them ROFL

What you’ll need: A video or audio recording of animal sounds, or you can make the sounds yourself.

What to do: This activity is great for promoting listening skills. Help your toddler identify different animal sounds. You can play a recording of the sounds or make them yourself. As they get better at this, you can start asking them questions about the animals, such as “Where does a lion live?” or “What does a cow eat?”

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting listening skills. Toddlers also learn about animals, their sounds, and maybe their habitats.

What you’ll need: A play kitchen, some pots and pans, and some plastic food

What to do: Show your toddler how to pretend to cook in the play kitchen. Let them help you stir the pots and pans or cut up the plastic food. As they get better at this, you can start asking them to make specific dishes.

Some 2 year old development activities that can be done in a real kitchen include; helping to pour ingredients into a bowl, using a child-safe knife to help cut soft foods, or helping to stir—all with adult supervision!

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting imaginative play. Toddlers also learn about cooking and following directions.

Related Reading: Extracurricular Activities Examples for Kids: The Best List

1. Pillow Roller Coasters

What you’ll need: Pillows, blankets, and a lot of space on the floor.

What to do: Create a pillow roller coaster for your toddler to ride. They will love going up and down the hill. As they get better at this, you can start asking them to go faster or slower.

You could create a smaller pillow road for their toy vehicles. Children can hold a race with their toy cars and make them go up and down the road.

Remote-controlled tanks or any other remote-controlled toy can also be used for this activity.

After your 2-year-old is done playing with the pillow roller coaster, you can just put the pillows, blankets, and toy cars away—no mess to clean up!

What kids will learn:

This activity is great for promoting gross motor skills. Toddlers will also learn about ramps and the energy needed to go up and down the slopes. These basic experiential learning can help them in their future physics classes.

What you’ll need: Clear zip-lock bags and small plastic animals.

What to do: Put their animals in clear zip-lock bags. Now ask them to help the animals get out by using their hands or opening the zip.

You can say, “I see the lion is roaring. It wants to come out. Can you help him?”

You can also put different kinds of objects in the zip-lock bags like fruits, vegetables, leaves, etc. This will help your toddler learn about different textures and shapes.

After they are done playing with this activity, you can store animals and zip lock bags separately or throw them in the toy box just as they are.

What kids will learn: Such games and 2 year old activities help kids learn about animal names, sounds, and textures. It also helps them develop their fine motor skills.

What you’ll need: Balloons and a sharp object (like a pin or a needle).

What to do: Help your toddler blow up the balloon and then let them pop it with the sharp object. Be sure to supervise them closely so that they don’t hurt themselves.

Your toddler will have a blast popping the balloons. The toddlers love the loud noise of the balloons popping and the feeling of popping them.

This activity can get a little messy since the balloon bits will be scattered around. But, it is easy to clean up—just gather all the pieces and throw them away.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting gross motor skills and hand–eye coordination. Toddlers will also learn about cause and effect as they see that their actions (popping the balloon) result in the desired outcome (the balloon makes a loud noise and pops).

What you’ll need: Square pieces of colored paper

What to do: Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. There are many simple origami shapes that even toddlers can make.

You can start with something simple like a paper airplane or a boat. Just fold the paper in half, and then in half again. Then, help your toddler make the folds to create the shape. Once they get the hang of it, they’ll be able to do it on their own.

We all know 2-year-olds love to display their creations, so be sure to have a spot ready to showcase their origami masterpieces.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting fine motor skills and concentration. Toddlers will also learn about following instructions and different shapes.

What you’ll need: Magnetic letters (you can find these at your local dollar store or online) and a metal surface

What to do: Stick the magnetic letters on the fridge or any other metal surface. Then, help your toddler spell out words with the letters. You can start with simple three-letter words and then move on to more difficult words.

You can even use these magnetic letters to offer clues to your toddler during a treasure hunt or pass on messages like a detective.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting literacy skills and creativity. Toddlers will also learn about the alphabet, spelling, and simple words.

Related Reading: Best ABC Song for Kids That Will Make Them Dance & Enjoy

What you’ll need: Clothes pegs and containers or surfaces to decorate

What to do: Accept it: Painting with your baby can be a messy affair. Clothes pegs allow you to bring a pop of color and beautiful works of art together. And, with this method, you don’t have to worry about paint stains.

Just let your toddler put clothes pegs around the containers or surfaces. You can even use them to create patterns or shapes.

If you want, you can paint the clothes pegs before your toddler starts decorating or buy cheap plastic clothes pegs in different colors. This will add an extra layer of color and fun to the activity.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting creativity and imagination early in children. They will learn that anything can be turned into a work of art with a little bit of creativity.

What you’ll need: Two cardboard boxes with lids and some toys or books

What to do: You will be surprised how much a toddler loves to help you do a chore and win compliments and hugs from you. It is a great way to keep them occupied while you’re busy with other things.

To set up, put some toys or books in one box and then close the lid. Then, have your toddler transfer the items into the other box. You can even make it a race to see who can transfer the most items in a minute.

You can easily make this a sorting and organizing activity, asking them to sort books, toys, or other objects by colors, shapes, or sizes.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting fine motor skills and concentration in toddlers. It is also a good opportunity for parents to inculcate a sense of responsibility and ownership in their toddlers and build their confidence.

Related Reading: Best Concentration Games for Kids to Develop Super Focus & Attention Skills

What you’ll need: Kinetic sand and some plastic toys

What to do: If you haven’t played with kinetic sand before, you’re in for a treat. It’s a type of sand that’s moldable and easy to shape. And it’s also very therapeutic to play with.

Let your toddler explore the sand and mold it into different shapes. You can even use the sand to make patterns or write words. If you want, you can add some plastic toys to the mix and see how your toddler plays with them.

And it does not create any mess! You can easily store the sand in a container when you’re done playing.

What kids will learn: This activity is great for promoting creativity and imagination in toddlers. They will also learn about different textures and how they can be manipulated.

Related Reading: Easy Activities for Preschoolers [With Tutorials]

Learning activities for 2 year olds must be creative, hands-on, and FUN! Parents must realize that a young child’s attention span can be short. So, the activities must be structured to maintain their interest, even outdoor activities for 2 year olds must be engaging and interesting. The key is to keep it short and sweet.

Do you need some “you” time? Engage your toddlers in one of the fun activities for 2 year olds mentioned above and take that five-minute break. These activities will not only occupy your toddler but also help their overall development.

Related Reading: Enjoyable Kids’ Activities for a Whoopee Time!

How to decide which activity is age-appropriate for 2 year olds?

Most two-year-olds can start with sorting shapes and colors, finding things hidden under objects, and doing simple puzzles. They may complete sentences in books they read regularly, follow two-step instructions, and love make-believe games. Activities built around developmental milestones for toddlers can help them progress to the next level.

What are some engaging indoor activities for two year olds that require few or no equipment?

Here are some indoor activities for 2 year olds that don’t require much equipment, if at all:

• transferring books and toys from one box to another
• sorting objects by colors, shapes, or sizes, 
• playing with kinetic sand or clay,
• playing online learning games.

80 of the BEST Toddler Activities for 2 Year Olds

If you are looking for ideas as to what to do with your toddler today, you have come to the right place. We have a big list of activities for 2 year olds, toddler games, 2 year old toys and fun things to do with toddlers. Pssst…while this list was created with your 2 year old in mind, younger and older toddlers will enjoy many of the things we have selected.

BEST Activities for 2 Year Olds Toddlers

As my youngest toddler is crossing the threshold and becoming a three-year old, but before they do I want them to get the most out of this year so here are 80 of the BEST Activities for 2 Year Olds!

Related: More activities for 2-year olds

These are either things that my two year old enjoyed or would if we had thought of doing them this last year! These toddler activities and toddler games are guaranteed to keep little hands busy with great ideas in a bunch of different ways.

2 Year Olds Love to Play

While every 2 year old is going to be a little different, one of the common traits found in 2-3 year old toddlers is that they love to play. In fact, anything they do turns into toddler games!

I absolutely love that about two year old children…everything they play turns into toddler games. It is something we should all learn from!

Toddler Physical Abilities – Gross Motor Skills

Physically, toddlers are active participants in almost any activity that includes climbing, kicking, running (short distances), scribbling, squatting, hopping and the way they walk starts to appear more like an adult or child than a baby. It is amazing how quickly those gross motor skills develop.

Toddler Physical Abilities – Fine Motor Skills

Toddlers also learn learn coordination through play. Picking things up, grasping, using fingers together and independently, pinching things, holding a crayon, hand-eye coordination and so many other fine motor skills are mastered through simple games and activities.

Mentally, two year olds are grasping language with more skill, being more thoughtful and starting to strategize and hold concepts. In fact, it is at age 2 that toddlers often start running through scenarios in their head that can predict outcomes of actions.

Oh, and don’t forget that important toddler social component as well…remember that everything is toddler games to a two year old.

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Fun Things For 2 Year Olds to Do to Exploring Color

1. Let’s Make Leftovers Art

Create colorful art using leftovers from around the house. Got different colors of scraps of paper, felt, and other odds and ends from other 2 year old crafts? These are perfect to create a wonderfully abstract masterpiece!

2. Play with Erupting Rainbow Chalk Paint

Side walk chalk is always a fun outdoor activity for kids. Let them create colorful designs and pictures. Then add a bit of science. Let them use a spray bottle of vinegar to watch their creations puff up!

3. Color Learning Activities For 2 Year Olds

Create a color wheel by painting each section of a pie chart a color. Then pick out little toys and trinkets that are the same color. Once you have a basket of goodies allow your child to put each item in its corresponding color. This is such a fun way to learn the colors even on a rainy day.

4. Let’s Make a Summer Time Bucket List for 2 Year Olds

Get outside in the summer time and have fun with one of these simple busy toddler activities or make your summer exciting and try to do them all. It will keep your 2 year old active, exploring, moving, and learning each day.

5. Create Rainbow Hand Kites

These rainbow hand kites are an amazing way to not only learn colors, but to appreciate them as well! Your child will be mesmerized by the way the colorful ribbons and dance and flow with each movement in different ways.

6. Play a Color Wheel Game

Sorting is something that teaches kids patterns, helps them to learn how to differentiate, and is *fun* for little kids! The best part is, toddlers have multiple ideas for learning colors so these activities for 2 year olds never gets dull and are so much fun.

7. Make Rainbow Healthy Gummies Together

Help your kids eat all the colors of the rainbow – these gummy snacks for kids are fun to make, and tasty for even picky kiddos. Your 2 year old will never know they’re eating fruits and veggies, they taste so good.

8. Let’s Play Color And Word Games For 2 Year Olds

Jump through the different shapes and colors with a DIY hopscotch-like mat. Your child must follow the path across the mat by following the same color or the same shape. Plus, looking for some fun activities to do at home to teach your toddler words? There is also a magnetic word game as well!

Related: Try easy handprint art project today!

Easy Crafts For 2 Year Olds

9.

Make finger painting more exciting by freezing paint in ice cubes for a cool colorful project. Do single colors, mix colors, add glitter, make it unique. Either way, your 2 year old will get to make a neat art project and work on their fine motor skills. It is a win-win.

10. Have Fun with a Sibling Made Toddler Puzzle

Need fun activities at home for older kids? Get an older sibling to paint a picture and turn it into a toddler puzzle. They can do a portrait, make a train, or whatever else your 2 year old may fancy. Plus, it is a great way to get your children to bond and promote kindness.

11. Painting With Cookie Cutters

Make prints with plastic letters – a great way to play with color and the alphabet at the same time. Not only is this a fun way to teach your 2 year old about letters, but it is a great way to start teaching them about words!

12. Teaching Your 2 Year Old About Germs

The year 2020 brought a sobering reminder that germs are very real. Making your own hand sanitizer and cleaning your toddlers hands with homemade hand sanitizer is a great way to remind them we must always clean our hands!

Related: toddler crafts

13. Fork Painted Fish Craft

Get creative with paint. Use different objects to make prints. Check out this forked fish. The texture is so neat and makes the fish looks like it has scales. Mix colors, make zig zags, stagger the strokes, these fish are your canvas!

14. Make Paper Plate Roses Together

Roses are such beautiful flowers with such deep meanings. Now your toddler can make their own Paper Plate Roses. They are colorful, fun, and an easy craft for your toddler. The best part is you can make different colored ones! All you need is different colored paper plates.

15. Let’s Play with Kids Face Painting

Face painting is something that my kiddos love. The first thing they do with markers is draw on themselves. Now you can put together a face painting kit! Use non-toxic paints and markers in your kits and add things like napkins, a towel, paintbrushes, and a couple other items you they will need.

16. Hey, Let’s Make DIY Chalk

Another favorite at our house is diy side walk chalk. They love to smash the chalk to bits in colorful blotches. Make your own paintable chalk version. Or you could make spray chalk, erupting ice chalk, glow in the dark chalk, there are so many options.

17. Oh So Many Crafts For 2 Year Olds

Get crafting with our huge list of toddler crafts. We have over 100 toddler crafts available from parents and bloggers just like you! From painting, tea parties, dry erase games, educational activities, dress up, gifts,, we have a little bit of everything!

18. Let’s Paint with Bathtub Paint

Bathtub paint for kids is one of our favorite ways to make bath time fun! It is so easy to make! You probably have most of the ingredients already in your pantry.

19. Sensory Paint Play

Explore different textures! Paint on unusual surfaces, like bubble wrap with your kids. You can add other textures like pebbles and beads! Paint in a bin, on skin, it is fun and makes finger painting more exciting.

Related: More easy crafts for toddlers & preschoolers

Sensory Activities Your 2 Year old will Love!

20. Easy Rainbow Pasta Fun

Rainbow Spaghetti is a fun medium for kids to explore. Dye it for extra fun. Noodles have a very squishy and sticky texture, it is fun to place with, safe if your toddler puts it in their mouth, plus, save some for later for a fun dinner.

21. Kool Aid Shaving Cream Sensory Play

Shaving cream is a great sensory tool for kids. Add Koolaid for colors and scent variations. If you want to make this a little safer for 2 year olds and babies who may still stick their fingers in their mouths you can substitute shaving cream for Cool Whip.

23. Make a Paper Plate Bird Craft

Feathers are a fun thing to craft and play with. Create a fun, colorful bird in this preschool craft. This is a fun and colorful craft, not only because of the paint, but because of the rainbow feathers! Feathers are such a fun texture to play with.

24. Play in a Rainbow Sensory Tub

Pasta is a blast to play with in a sensory tub. Dye it and add some element shapes for kids to have fun digging, sorting, and touching. Add in colorful rings and plastic coins for even more textures. Add cups for the kids to shake the noodles and trinkets around.

25. Process Art is Fun Toddler Play

Kids love big canvases. Keep one around the house for your kids to paint whenever the desire strikes. Let them spray the paint, mix it, use rollers, and brushes to create a giant, beautiful, piece of art.

26. Rainbow Finger Bath Paint

If you don’t like mess, maybe the bath tub will be a better place for your kids to explore color mixing. These paints are non-toxic and safe for kids and your bathtub and the best part is, while they’re learning their colors you won’t be scrubbing paint off of chairs and the floor.

27. Make a Confetti Collage

Give your kids a hole punch and colorful sheets of paper. They will have a blast creating confetti – and afterwards craft with the bits. Use a paintbrush and glue and then sprinkle the confetti on top to create a rainbow masterpiece.

28. Play with Rainbows

Preschoolers can learn about more than color as they explore. This is a fun rainbow-themed math activity. It uses paint, toilet paper rolls, stickers, clay, and coins! Who knew math could be so fun?

Related: Oh so many toddler sensory bin ideas!

Indoor Toddler Games & Sensory Play Ideas for 2 Year Olds

29. Playdough, Beads, And Pipe Cleaners Toddler Activities

Add pipe cleaners and large beads to playdough play – it will help your kids develop fine motor skills. Plus, they create all sorts of creatures and monsters! Let their imaginations run wild.

30. Stacking Cups for Gross Motor Play

Two year olds have fun rolling stacking cups, and pretending to drink/eat. Add beans or rice and let them scoop and pour. Even better, let them shake them all around to make neat sounds. Worried they’ll put a bean in their mouth? Use Fruity Pebbles instead any round cereal like Coco Puffs or Cheerios for their toddler game.

31. Make Chocolate Ice Cream Play Dough

Chocolate Ice Cream, our preschoolers love to eat it – and this play dough recipe smells delish! Let them pretend to work at an ice cream shop. Give them other color playdough to make sprinkles and cherries! Just a heads up, this chocolate ice cream playdough may smell amazing, however, it is not edible! A taste won’t hurt, it won’t taste good, but this is not one of our edible recipes.

32. Creative Activities For Toddlers At Home

Rice is a fun sensory table addition. It’s cheap and easy to find, and kids love the texture falling through their fingers. Add wooden spoons, tiny cups, hide treasure in the rice, let them pour the rice through a funnel.

33. Arts And Crafts For 2 Year Olds

Toddler art projects can be daunting. Here are 10 easy and fun sensory arts and crafts for two year olds. Promote imaginary play with an ice cream dough bar, play with water beads, paint with yogurt, and there are so many more fun activities to choose from.

34. Who Made That Footprint

Make footprints in playdough with your 2 year old’s favorite toys, then see if they can match the footprints to the toys! It is such a cute game and a great problem solving game as they have to match each footprint with their toys. Plus, it teaches about body parts like feet as they have to search for toys with feet.

35. Let’s Make Homemade Story Stones

Story-telling is a great way to help toddlers develop language patterns and learn sequencing of events. Make your own story stones using pictures of: animals, bugs, aliens, toys, and automobiles. Put them all in a basket and then let the pick one at a time to continue the story.

36. Play Concentration Game

Play a learning game of concentration with your kiddo. Put three items up and remove one. Have your child identify which object was removed. It is a great way to work on problem solving and refine your child’s memory and teaches them to pay attention.

37. Playdough Kabobs are Fun to Make

Make Kabobs of play dough. Form beads and thread them. Great way for kids to explore texture and motor control. Plus it will teach your child about colors and they can count each playdough balls.

38. Fruity Bubble Tea for Play

Water beads are the rage. Here are water beads that toddlers can play with, and even eat as part of a bubble tea. It is a fun texture to play with, to eat, plus they’re full of calories if your child doesn’t like to eat a lot.

Related: Make healthy snacks for toddlers

Outdoor Toddler Games & Fun Things to Do with a 2 Year Old

39.

Mudpies!! It’s a quintessential kids activity – make an mini-outdoor kitchen for your kids to cook and create in. Use a wooden crate and add a bowl, a whisk, spoons, pans, a kettle full of water, and don’t forget the chalkboard menu.

40. Colored Cloud Dough Play

Cloud dough is so soft and squishy, they will play with it for hours. Plus, it is made from a lot of things you may already have at home. It is a fun sensory craft for 2 year olds. Let them build, squish, and smash this soft cloud dough.

41. Make Sandbox On Wheels

Sandboxes are a mess… but what if they were small, easy to cover, and you could drag it into the garage when you were done?? Win! This is a sandbox on wheels. Pile on the toys to hide them and keep your yard clean.

42. Ways To Spend Time With Your 2 Year Old

When was the last time you surprised your child with a picnic – for breakfast? This site has a bunch of other creative ways to connect with your kids. It has great tips to spend time with your kids everyday even in the smallest of moments.

43. Playing with Frozen Water Beads

On a hot afternoon, frozen water beads are a huge hit! Fill a big bucket with them. They’re cold and great for a hot day, but you can spray water on them to thaw them out. There textures change and it makes a fun sensory bin.

44. Outdoor Activities For Toddlers

Do your kids hide in clothes at a department store? Mine do! Recreate that experience by hanging fabric for your kids to run through at home. You can hang sheets, blankets, dresses, long shirts and let them run through!

45. DIY Outdoor Sound/Music Station

This is so cool! Create a sound/music station for your 2 year old using pots, pans, racks, and bells. Bang the afternoon away with a fun musical wall – attach it to a fence in your back yard.

46. Nature And Water Play For Toddlers

It’s a soup!! Only you can’t eat it. This soup is made from flower petals and cut up fruit and water. Smells lovely, and is a hit with the kids! You can add other things too like leaves, stones, and stir with sticks or spoons. Make this nature soup your own.

47. Egg Carton Color Sorting

Use egg cartons to help your kids differentiate between colors with this fun sorting activity. Paint each egg carton a different color and then fill a bowl full of pom poms. Put each pom pom in its correlating colors. If you use spoons and tongs it also helps refine your child’s fine motor skills.

48. How To Make Sponge Bombs

Sponge bombs are the BEST! Make a big batch of them, and add them to your tots bath toys. They also make amazing summer toys as well! Plus, they’re safer for 2 year olds than water balloons.

49. Sidewalk Simon Game

Play with all the colors of the rainbow in this fun Simon Says game. This is a fun outdoors game that will teach your 2 year old about colors while keeping them moving. Say a color and they will need to hop to that color.

50. Cardboard Boat For 2 Year Olds

Card board boats are a blast. This is a fun pretend version you can add to your backyard. It will be loved until it can no longer hold it together anymore. It promotes pretend play, and if you’re able to tape boxes together or use a large box there will even be room for you!

51. Rainbow Bubble Snakes

2 year olds love bubbles, colors, and messy activities! These rainbow bubble snakes are all 3! Bubbles are a blast, especially lots of them. These bubble snakes are perfect for kids who want to learn to blow or who love popping bubbles and they are rainbow!

Related: Things to do with toddlers

Fun Toddler Activities For 2 Year Olds Who Are Active

52. Exploring Color Theory

Summer time ice-cube sculptures. Your two year old can stack colored blocks of ice and watch the colors melt together. Not only is this a fun way to beat the heat, but it is a fun way to learn colors and learn about mixing colors like red and blue make purple. Make this even more fun, and tasty, and freeze different color Kool-Aid’s!

53. Make a Snack Together

Is your child a snacker? Spend time together cooking and make a batch of snacks for toddlers and have a picnic together. Make popsicles from real fruit, muffins, fruit snacks, yogurt gummies, trail mix and more.

54. Water Bead And Flower Sensory Tub

Do your kids love flowers?? Mine do! Check out this flower sensory bin. Add water beads and different flowers and water! This changes the texture of the water beads and each flower feels different as some will be wet and others dry. Dip your hands or feet in the bin.

55. Let’s Make an Indoor Fort Together

Who doesn’t love pillow forts? Building forts and hanging out inside forts is a blast for kids. They love cubbies to crawl into. We love these indoor forts for toddlers. There are 25 to choose from and each one is cool and unique in its own right.

56. Pretend Play is Toddler Fun

Pretend play is such an important thing for kids to do. It promotes social skills, cooperative play, and problem solving. Young preschoolers are just beginning to play pretend. These 75+ Pretend games help them build an imaginary world.

57. Watermelon Activities

Your kids don’t need to have blocks to build. Use chunks of watermelon this summer with your preschoolers. Not only can you build with it, but you can make squish bags, math bags, and best of all, snack!

58. No-Mess Finger Painting

You can fill bags of paint for kids to squish and trace in as mess free finger paint. It is clean play so you don’t have to worry about any scrubbing or baths afterwards. They can still draw pictures in the paint and even mix the colors.

59.

Drop the ball through a fun maze – your kids can create and explore with long paper tubes. You could even use toy cars with this maze. Either way, it is a lot of fun! All you need is cardboard tubes, can boxes, cutting utensils and a hot glue gun as well as ping pong balls.

60. Spaghetti Shop Play

Promote pretend play with this fun activity. Make an “invitation to play” for your kids cooked noodles (plain and red dyed), paper plates, tongues, forks and strainers – it’s a pasta party! Not only will it promote pretend play, but using tongues and letting two year olds move noodles from various containers is a great way to promote fine motor skill practice.

61. Play with Learning Letters

Water – everything is more fun with water. Use a squirt gun or spray bottle to learn the letters with your toddler. Write letters on a chalkboard. They can be in order or they can be all mixed up. Then name a letter and let your child find it and spray it with a water bottle to erase it from the lineup. A normal water bottle may be hard for 2 year olds, so a wet rag or sponge could also work.

Related: Kids-creative activities at home

Fun Activity Ideas For Toddlers At Home

62. Quiet Play for Toddlers

It isn’t often you can get 2 year olds to be quiet or settle down. But this toilet paper activity is perfect. You don’t need fancy toys to build towers. Use toilet paper – if your kids are like mine, they will enjoy unraveling a roll or two, too. But they can build, drive cars over and around them, and knock them down!

63. Water Play Ideas For 2 Year Olds

We have 20 easy young toddler water play ideas will get them outside on a hot day! Splash in puddles, dance in the rain, wash the car, build your own water table, paint with water, and there are many more fun ideas that you can do together!

64. Five Senses Exploration

Learn all about the five senses with this fun printable for kids. This is such a well-rounded sensory activity as it focuses on: touching, hearing, smelling, sight, and tasting. It is a great way to teach 2 year olds about the world around them and help them explore different textures and different items around them.

65. Simple Play With A Ramp

This is one of our go-to activities for 2 year olds. Grab a box – it can be a terrific launch ramp for toy cars. If you have stairs you can lay the box against them or if you don’t a chair or the couch. But then watch the cars and bikes fly!

66. Make Toddler Friendship Bracelets

Toddler friendship bracelets are a fun way to practice cutting and threading fine motor skills. Plus, they are super cute! Cut up different colored straws and use the pieces as beads and loop them onto a pipe cleaner.

67. Easy Indoor Ring Toss For Toddlers

Use a lump of play dough and a wooden spoon to create a pole to toss rings on. This is a great way for kids to develop hand-eye coordination. Use plastic bracelets as the rings.

68. Bucket List For Toddlers

Encourage your kids to be active with one of these 25 super simple activities. We have silly activities like singing into a fan (robot voice!) and simple activities like moping the floor with socks, or building forts, and so many more! Your 2 year old will love them all!

69. Free Quiet Book Template

Create a quiet book to entertain your 2 year olds during nap time or another calm period. This free template helps you put together a book full of fun felt puzzles and activities. It will keep your child busy for hours!

70. Toddler Kerplunk Game

Kerplunk is such a fun classic game and is one of our favorite activities for 2 year olds. Grab a spaghetti strainer and some pom-poms for a fun game. Don’t worry the plastic sticks aren’t sharp because they are straws! This is such a fun problem solving game!

71. Rock Sensory Box

Rocks. My kids love to play with them when they are at the park. Teach them not to throw rocks at home by making a simple sensory box with different size rocks that have various shapes, textures, weights and colors. You can start your rock box with rocks you find or purchase a variety of rocks on Amazon.

72. Edible Sand For 2 Year Olds

Do your kids want to play in the sandbox, but they are just a touch to young as they put everything in their mouths?? Create edible sand! All you need is a food processor and crackers! You could probably also use something like cheerios or graham crackers for a sweeter version of this edible sand. Either way, your 2 year old will love it!

73. Foam Block Building Ideas

Build with blocks in a water table – a fun outdoor experience. Trace the foam blocks with chalk! That way 2 year olds can learn colors and shapes. Work on your 2 year olds motor skills by sticking the foam blocks to sticky paper. Last, promote pretend play while working on your 2 year olds fine motor skills by letting them build. Use shaving cream as cement!

Related: easy toddler crafts

Activities to Encourage Independence in our 2 Year Olds

74. Printable Chore List

Help foster independence and teach work ethic with ideas from our chore list for your preschooler. Each chore list is sectioned off by age groups. So there are lists for toddlers, preschoolers, elementary kids, older elementary kids, and middle schoolers.

75. Building Towers

Build towers with all the old boxes you can collect – use tape to keep them together and bring a step stool. Let the kids do all the “heavy lifting” (they’re empty so no back brace is needed) and then let them decorate their amazing towers with paint!

76. Introduction To A Ruler

Your kids may not understand lengths and how to use a ruler yet, but they can learn to intuitively grasp varying amounts with the help of scissors, play dough and a ruler. It is a great way to introduce tools they’ll need for school and work on their fine motor skills.

77. Fine Motor Activities For Toddlers At Home

Colanders and straws are the perfect way to help 2 year olds practice their fine motor skills. This can even be used as one of our fun games for 3 years old. It is simple, let your child stick straws through the holes in the colander. It will take precision to get them in!

78. DIY Cutting Station

Create a cutting station! It is one of our fun activities to do at home. Not only is it fun, but helps your 2 year old practice their fine motor skills as well. Use a bucket and tie a pair of scissors to it. Hopefully, kids will keep the scraps contained this way.

79. Making Clean Up Fun

How to get kids to clean? Make cleaning fun! Add music, set a timer, hide prizes around the room! Also breaking down the cleaning tasks and even taking a before an after picture will make it easier on kids and make them feel more accomplished for doing their chores.

80. Toddlers can Help Clean

Encourage your kids to contribute and clean with some of these tips. Mop the floors with socks! Make your own cleaner out of non-toxic items in your home and let your child spray and wipe! This will make cleaning fun, but also teach them responsibility.

Related: Toddler chores

How do you entertain a 2 year old all day?

If you have ever spent an entire day with a 2 year old, you have probably asked yourself this question of what in the world do I do with a 2 year old for EVERY WAKING HOUR! It can be exhausting and overwhelming to consider. There are several things to consider when planning out a toddler’s day:

• 2 Year old Schedule for Day: Try a loose schedule in blocks of time built around your 2 year olds nap time and other things that you might have going on like picking up older kids or running errands. Plan for at least one of those time blocks to be outside whether that is in your backyard, a walk around the neighborhood or a quick trip to the park. Another time block might include one of the toddler activities chosen from our list. Here is a simple example schedule for the day —
  • 8-9 Breakfast & Clean Up
  • 9-10 Run errands
  • 10-11 Park
  • 11-12 Shaving cream painting on back porch or in tub (without water)
  • 12-1 Lunch & Clean Up
  • 1-3:30 Quiet time then nap
  • 3:30-5 Pick up older sibling, run to the library and toy time: blocks, cars, etc.
  • 5-7 Family time and dinner
  • 7 Bath and story time
  • 8 Bed time
• Toddler Activities as Play Prompts: Think of activities for 2 year olds as a play “starter”. It is an idea to inspire their own play. Don’t worry if they make the “right thing” or “play the right way”. The idea is to get them entertaining themself!
• Step Away During Toddler Play: When your toddler gets engrossed in play, step away and observe/supervise from a distance. This will help him/her to develop independence and the ability to entertain themselves with a lot of practice.

How do you mentally stimulate a 2 year old?

Toddlers are taking in everything around them all the time. It makes it really easy to mentally stimulate 2 year olds! The bottom line answer to how to stimulate a toddler mentally is…through play and experience. Here are some examples:

• Visit new places: Don’t worry that I am talking about exotic travel locations, any place is new to a 2 year old! Grocery stores, malls, parks, trails, backyards, different sidewalks, zoos, and anywhere you go is a new place to see, observe and learn. Let them look around. Talk about what they see. Let them soak up their surroundings.
• Read new books: Visit your local library regularly and let your toddler “shop” for new books. Choosing books from all the shelves and shelves of library books is fun and sitting down and reading those books at the library or at home is even better. Kids who are read to at a young age develop language skills faster and better.
• Be around friends and family: 2 year olds are social creatures and love to be around others so they can watch and learn. Expose your child to a lot of social situations from play dates to family reunions to large groups like sporting events or church.

What games are best for a 2 year old?

We have some casual games listed above, but if you are looking for card and board games that work well as a toddler’s first game, here are a few to try first!

• Monkey Around – The Wiggle & giggle Game from Peaceable Kingdom that gets 2 year olds moving
• Mr. Bucket – The spinning and moving bucket game from Pressman
• Elefun – This was my kids favorite toddler game – the elephant blows butterflies in the air that you need to catch with a butterfly net
• Where is Bear? The hide and find stacking block game from Peaceable Kingdom
• First Orchard – A HABA My Very First Games is a board game of cooperation for 2 year olds

More Kids Activities for 2 year olds & Beyond from Kids Activities Blog

Leave a Comment: Which of these toddler activities did your 2 year old enjoy the most? Did we miss a great activity on our list of toddler activities?

Developmental activities with a child 2-3 years old

Content

A child at 2 years old: what is he like
Basics of development
Logical and mathematical thinking
Oral speech
Attention
General and fine motor skills
Intellectual abilities

Acquaintance with 00 When a baby turns two years old, he begins to actively explore the world around him, so parents ask themselves the question: how to develop a child at 2 years old correctly? Various tasks for children of this age develop many children's abilities, including speech, social, tactile, creative skills, etc.

A 2-year-old child: what is he like